Senate Votes Labor Law Changes, Including Higher Minimum Pay

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7—The Senate turned back today a series of efforts to fix a lower minimum wage and then voted to accept major amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act, including higher minimum wage. The vote was 63 to 25.

Senator Harrison A. Williams Jr., Democrat of New Jersey, who lis chairman of the Senate Human Resources Committee, said that today's vote “will help bring simple justice to our nation's working poor.”

He added: “Our job now is to go to conference with the House and do the best we can to get the minimum wage close to a level that will provide the basic necessities of life. We aren't asking more than that.”

The defeat of the subminimum wage for youths represented another victory for organized labor, which had vigorously fought the concept while pressing for higher minimum wage.

However, the Senate voted to allow children as young as 10 years old to work as harvesters for certain crops under conditions protecting them from bodily injury or other ill effects. Previously, no children younger than 12 were permitted to work in the fields.

The Senate also adopted an amendment to increase the number of concerns that are exempted from minimum wage requirements as small businesses. Under an amendment introduced by Senator Dale Bumpers, Democrat of Arkansas, the exemption, which now goes to companies with gross sales of $250,000 a year or less, would be given to companies with sales of $275,000 starting next July 1 and of $325,000 a year later. The exemption would then go up as the minimum wage went up.

35‐Cent Increase Voted

Last night, the Senate voted to increase the minimum wage from the current $2.30 an hour to $2.65 an hour, starting Jan. 1. The Senate also voted to increase the minimum to $2.90 in 1979, $3.15 in 1980 and $3.40 in 1981.

Last month, the House of Representatives voted to increase the minimum wage to $2.65 next year but to $2.85 in 1979 and $3.05 in 1980, with no increase scheduled for 1981.

The differences will be resolved in conference between the two houses.

Proponents of the lower minimum wage for youths had argued that it would be a major step toward dealing with the serioun problem of unemployment among teen‐agers. Statistics released by the Labor Department today showed that more than 18 percent of workers between the ages of 16 and 19 were jobless in September. Among black teen‐agers, the unemployment rate was over 37 percent.

Supporters of the subminimum wage said that it would encourage employers to hire young people. Opponents contended that adoption of a lower wage for teen‐agers would lead many employers to dismiss older workers and hire young people. It was also argued that equal work should receive equal pay, regardless of age.

The Senate rejected four amendments designed to provide a differential wage for youth. Earlier, the House had also rejected the concept.

We are continually improving the quality of our text archives. Please send feedback, error reports,
and suggestions to archive_feedback@nytimes.com.

A version of this archives appears in print on October 8, 1977, on Page 18 of the New York edition with the headline: Senate Votes Labor Law Changes, Including Higher Minimum Pay. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe